Coxfa4l3, a novel mitochondrial electron transport chain Complex 4 subunit protein, switches from Coxfa4 during spermatogenesis

Masahiro Endou; Kaito Yoshida; Makoto Hirota; Chika Nakajima; Atsumi Sakaguchi; Naoto Komatsubara; Yasuyuki Kurihara

doi:10.1016/j.mito.2020.02.003

Coxfa4l3, a novel mitochondrial electron transport chain Complex 4 subunit protein, switches from Coxfa4 during spermatogenesis

Mitochondrion. 2020 May:52:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.mito.2020.02.003. Epub 2020 Feb 8.

Authors

Masahiro Endou¹, Kaito Yoshida¹, Makoto Hirota¹, Chika Nakajima¹, Atsumi Sakaguchi¹, Naoto Komatsubara², Yasuyuki Kurihara³

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.
² College of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.
³ Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan. Electronic address: kurihara-yasuyuki-xh@ynu.ac.jp.

PMID: 32045714
DOI: 10.1016/j.mito.2020.02.003

Abstract

We identified Coxfa4l3, previously called C15orf48 or Nmes1, as a novel accessory protein of Complex IV of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC). Amino acid sequence comparison, the intracellular localization and the protein expression data showed that the protein is the third isoform of Coxfa4 and the expression of Coxfa4 and Coxfa4l3 proteins during spermatogenesis showed a mutually exclusive pattern, implying that Coxfa4 replaces Coxfa4l3 in Complex IV after meiosis. These results may provide some insight into the unique mechanism of ATP production in late spermatogenesis.

Keywords: Electron transport chain; Hypoxia; Spermatogenesis.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Line
Electron Transport Complex IV / genetics*
Electron Transport Complex IV / metabolism
HEK293 Cells
HeLa Cells
Humans
Male
Mice
Nuclear Proteins / metabolism*
Organ Specificity
Proteomics
Spermatogenesis*

Substances

Nuclear Proteins
Electron Transport Complex IV